AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)   Maine’s Republican governor says he won’t allow a state worker to appear before a legislative committee in person, so the panel investigating the state’s welfare system says it will subpoena the employee, instead.

The Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee voted 8-1 Thursday to subpoena Office of Family Independence Director Bethany Hamm.

Gov. Paul LePage in a Friday letter said Hamm has already worked with the committee on its review of Maine’s cash assistance program. LePage said he won’t subject Hamm to the committee’s “inevitable politics.”

Republican Rep. Paula Sutton voted against the committee’s motion and said she was satisfied by Hamm’s written answers to questions posed by the committee.

A recent Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability report called for more transparency in how Maine spends federal welfare dollars.